January 7, 2004
Kids Get the Bugs Out --
Philadelphia School Benefits from Penn State
Service Learning Project
UNIVERISTY PARK, PA -- Pests and pesticide use in schools and other urban
dwellings can result in unhealthy indoor environments, especially among
those with asthma. A new Penn State service learning project at Shaw
Middle School in West Philadelphia will try to alleviate these problems by
empowering students, teachers and the community to implement Integrated
Pest Management, or IPM.
IPM is a safe, economical and scientific,
step-wise approach to pest management. IPM integrates knowledge of pest
identity and biology with pest monitoring so that actions, if any, can be
taken at
just the right time. In addition, IPM uses a combination of management
tactics such as biological, cultural, physical and chemical that is more
likely to be safe and effective. Emphasis is placed on prevention of
problems by eliminating conditions conducive to pest entry and
survival. In Pennsylvania, two new legislative initiatives are
encouraging IPM in schools:
1) IPM must be taught in K-12 as part of
the new PA Academic Standards in Environment and Ecology. This
creates an opportunity for combining IPM education and implementation
using service-learning models.
2) IPM is now required to manage pests on
all Pennsylvania public school property. This creates opportunities
to partner with schools and school students to improve pest management
practices in their schools and surrounding community.
Teresina Bailey, the Community IPM Outreach
Coordinator for the Pennsylvania IPM Program, and Nicole Webster,
assistant professor of agricultural extension and education at Penn State,
are developing the service learning project. "Service learning
provides a tremendous asset to youth by providing them with skills to
promote self-confidence, citizenship, and leadership to deal with these
situations," says Webster. "Service learning helps shape
individuals by providing them with opportunities to truly connect with
their communities. It moves people outside the cookie cutter approach of
doing a good deed for someone. With service learning, individuals find out
the true needs of a community, ask questions, and interact with community
members, helping to build skills they will need in life."
The service learning project aims to build
the capacity of students at the Shaw Middle School to recognize, manage,
and prevent pest and pesticide related health risks by using IPM rationale
and
methods. Awareness of these risks and IPM solutions will be both taught
and implemented at Shaw and simultaneously spread to the students' larger
community through curriculum development and educational outreach and
demonstration programs. In January, approximately 90 students and
their parents will be assessed on IPM knowledge. Selected students will
review the
assessments and later the entire school will be tested. Teams will be
formed to develop posters, write articles on environmental issues, create
eco-logs, begin a school recycling program, and help develop a monthly
newsletter. Other possible activities will include a health fair, a parent
night showcasing the IPM program, and attending a summer program at Penn
State.
"Students will leave the program as
empowered community educators," says Bailey. "They'll learn
about the ways IPM can reduce health risks associated with pest occurrence
and inappropriate use of pesticides. Shaw students will create projects
that will serve as a model for implementation of IPM in schools throughout
the School District of Philadelphia and statewide."
The PA IPM Program is dedicated to
partnering with others to overcome obstacles and to promote IPM education
and use in both schools and urban communities. Partnerships for this
project include people involved in education, policy and outreach from
Penn State Education Partnership Program, Philadelphia Allies Against
Asthma, American Lung Association, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
- Community Asthma Prevention Program, Cobbs Creek Community Environmental
Center, Delaware Valley Earth Force, Philadelphia Department of Public
Health - Vector Control, EPA Region III, Grace Community Christian Center,
Health Promotion Council of Southeastern
Pennsylvania, Inc., Lancaster Avenue Business Association, Penn State
Department of Agriculture Extension and Outreach, Penn State Philadelphia
County Cooperative Extension, Michigan Department of Agriculture -
Pesticide & Plant Pest Mgt. Div., Mid-Atlantic Regional Asthma
Initiative, Philadelphia Area Labor-Management Committee - Good
Schoolkeeping Program, Philadelphia Department of Education, Pittsburgh
Board of Education - Plant Operations, School District of Philadelphia -
Office of Grants Development and Support, Schuylkill Environmental
Education Center, Serious Teens and Adults Acting Responsibly, Shaw Middle
School, Philadelphia.
To find out more about the School IPM
effort in Pennsylvania and links to educational material from across the
country, go to the program's Web site at http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/schoolipm.html.
Teachers will find an interactive database at http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/schoolipmdb/
along with IPM background information, lesson plans and support materials.
To find out more about the program's Community IPM effort, go to Web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/community.html
The PA IPM Program is a collaboration
between the Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture aimed at promoting integrated pest management in both
agricultural and nonagricultural situations. For more information, contact
the program at (814) 865-2839, or Web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu.
To find out more about the service learning project, contact Bailey at tab124@psu.edu,
or Webster at (814) 863-4753 or nsw10@psu.edu.
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Editors Contact:
Kristie Auman-Bauer
Pennsylvania IPM Program
(814) 865-2839
Email
